NDT’s not even going to mention that Santa probably solved or approximately solved the traveling salesman problem for a complete graph of several hundred million vertices embedded in a spherical topology?
I suppose if he’s magic he doesn’t need to solve anything.
Ffs that guy is annoying. Did not even do the math, which should have told him that hypersonic does not even scratch the surface unless he has an extremely wide drop-off region.
I can’t believe you’re really taking his comment seriously?! He made a post about Santa’s reindeer and sleigh vaporizing due to the speed of travel. It’s supposed to be absurd, not a science lesson.
It’s a little ironic that you say NDT is annoying for his joke while complaining that his math (from a joke) does’nt make sense.
See? Eheran GOT YOU. He knew that Tyson was joking, so he played it straight and made you look like a dupe!
Oh wait, you’re doing the straight man switcheroo, I’ve been bamboozled again.
I got such a kick out of this, thanks be to you!
I thought he could have been the next Carl Sagan, but instead, he’s that guy you never invite to parties.
I dunno about you, but I’m not sure if I’d have invited Carl Sagan either…it’d take him ~13.8 billion years just to get dessert ready.
Santa is a shared delusion running on people’s minds in a distributed fashion, known in magic occult spheres as an egregore. All of those minds then manifest Santa by their own deeds and the spread of Santa memes. Santa‘s sled is everywhere at once as the sequence of delivered packages doesn’t matter. One Santa manifested everywhere through human thought and action.
Isn’t this how gods worked in Terry Pratchett’s books?
No, but it is basically how Santa worked, as seen in Hogfather.
Gods are a species that become more powerful the more worshippers they have and essentially powerless when they have no followers, as seen in Small Gods.
Wasn’t the Hogfather an old winter god?
Maybe? It’s been a while.
You’re thinking of American Gods by Gaiman.
Y’all don’t get it. Santa is a hive mind parasite that embeds itself in people and takes over at the later months of the year. It tends to hibernate the rest of the year although much like pollen, it seems to be waking earlier and earlier.
Climate change is causing Christmas creep? It’s worse than we thought!!
It’s not a coincidence they start playing Xmas music in October now… Only a matter of time until it’s year round. Blasted climate change!
Naw, just your standard profit seeking.
clown-to-clown conversation
Removed by mod
I know I’m “not cool” and a “booger man” because of what I’m about to say, but NDT just likes to post fun stuff. He’s not being serious and he’s not being a know-it-all. Does anyone here read his books or listen to his podcast? He has a damn comedian on for every episode.
I’m only half joking when I say, thank you for your bravery.
Santa likes rich kids more than poor ones.
Hey, so does God.
Why is Santa only delivering to Christians?
Probably because he was a Christian.
He’s dead. I’m sorry, son
Santa clones himself
“Have you ever seen the film ‘The Prestige’?”
(Side note: this is my single favorite comedy sketch of all time.)
Hims-elf.
Imagine sniffing your own farts this much
Christmas is a federal holiday now too
So, it’s for everyone now. Not just Christians
Way more presents than in Tyson’s original calculation
Soft magic systems aren’t any fun. Change my mind.
Christianity, stranger things and paranormal activity are equally as uninteresting to me because it’s “because I said so”. Boooooooo, come up with some rules for your world.
Can we make a new category of fiction called “supernatural” SEPARATE from sci-fi and fantasy? Thanks, that would be nice.
“Magic system” is a bit of an oxymoron imo. The problem with having hard rules for magic is that that’s not magic, that’s science. You just end up with a world with slightly different physical laws.
Technology can be interesting on its own but a deep understanding of the underlying mechanics kills the magic. A rock that lets you talk with someone over great distance is magic but if you explain it as manipulating imperceptible vibrations in the air you just have a radio.
“Magic system” is a bit of an oxymoron
This is just the currently accepted terminology in world building: https://rebeccashedd.com/2024/10/25/the-worldbuilders-toolkit-building-a-magic-system/
I’m just extending this to sci-fi also, as have many others, because they’re basically the same thing, only that the sci-fi magic systems are vaugely based on real-life science (but vary wildly how closely).
Think Stargate with their loosey-goosey ancients and accession, vs the much more grounded The Expanse.
I’m just not a fan of magic systems without any rules at all.
Hence why I find supernatural stories less interesting, which streaming services, book shops, and movie theatres, frustratingly categorise under fantasy. They are very different from sci-fi and fantasy, in my opinion.
If your magic is purely “mysterious”, that’s boring, and lazy story-telling (In my opinion).
All in due time, it is silly to put so much value on one or a few days. Every day can be Christmas when we treat each other well. Good will come to those who deserve, time will tell.
